Los Angeles-based band Dream Alive just dropped their debut record, Before The Dawn. But who are these guys? To answer that question, we chatted with co-founder, lead vocalist, and keyboardist Nik Phoeniks about the record and what it is they're hoping to accomplish now that they've arrived.

DreamAliveMusic.com

Dream Alive also consists of co-founder and rhythm guitarist Ramon Ryder, lead guitarist Karan Parikh, bassist Martin Fredriksson and drummer Stanley Love. But what are the important things Nik thinks we should know about them? "I would say how the band started and how we're all kind of from different parts of the world," he said. "Secondly would be the recording and writing process [for the album]. Because we did it kind of in multiple studios, we had to be very inventive with the way we had to find different types of the sound and use our varied influences to try to come up with the product."

"I had met Ramon, and we talked a lot about our kind of similar interests musically and just our goals for the future musically as well. We all kind of got together on the basis of our similar musical influences," he explained. "But we also wanted to kind of see if we could push the envelope a little bit."

With their own influences ranging across musical history from Pink Floyd to Muse, the duo strove to unite classic and modern pop-rock. "What we kind of noticed as far as the trend, is you see a lot of modern rock acts and then you see a lot of just throwback embracing of that particular era," Nik continued. "We wanted to kind of find a bridge between the two. That's kind of how we approached the album."

Right off the bat, you can hear what he means as far as mixing and matching different sounds. "For the title track 'Before The Dawn,' I'd been listening to a lot of Beatles, Pink Floyd kind of stuff, but I'd also been listening to the late romantic classical composers," he told us. "So that was really the influence behind that track. I feel that one is a little bit different from the rest of the album."

But no band succeeds on records alone. There has to be a plan for what happens once the music is out in the world, what all those hours of effort are all for. As Dream Alive plots select live shows, including the Bay Area in August and Las Vegas in September, they're also trying to do what many musicians strive to do - make an impact on their audience that goes beyond just listening to a good song.

"From a very basic standpoint, when we set out to form this band and write these songs and record the album, I think we really wanted to do something that spoke from us in a genuine place. As long as we're able to maintain that, no matter what happens, I think we'll be happy," Nik reflected. "But I think we really want to get out there and play to as many people as possible. Touring is a huge thing for us right now. We definitely want to tour in the States, and we definitely want to tour overseas as well."

Dream Alive's debut album Before The Dawn is now available. For more on the band, you can visit their official website (dreamalivemusic.com) and follow them on Twitter (@dreamalivemusic).

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Brittany Frederick is an award-winning entertainment and sports journalist, screenwriter, and novelist. Her favorites include 'The Voice', 'Suits', 'Strike Back', 'Transporter: The Series' and 'Top Gear.' You can reach her at her official website (brittany-frederick.com) and on Twitter (@tvbrittanyf).